City of Syracuse Plans to Reduce Fuel Emissions 10% by 2020

The City of Syracuse, NY, began its efforts to reduce its fleet’s fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2002.

According to Green Fleet Magazine, “In 2002, the City’s baseline for its fleet’s GHG emissions was 11,251 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). In 2010, the City had reduced its metric tons of CO2e to 9,039. For 2020, its new target is 8,039 metric tons of CO2e. In addition to emissions, the City reduced its fleet’s fuel consumption by more than 140,000 gallons of gasoline and more than 35,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Its gasoline consumption fell from 698,575 gallons to 558,097, and its diesel usage dropped from 420,913 gallons to 383,774.”

To achieve the 2020 reduction goal, the City also plans to optimize pickup routes for trash and recycling vehicles’ and to set-up “zones” to reduce travel from site to site so some City service vehicles could be shared inter-departmentally.

Installing a GPS tracking system into all the City’s fleet vehicles could facilitate these two plans. To help reach the 2020 lower emissions goal even faster, the City could also implement an anti-idling campaign. How? By choosing a green GPS tracking system, which also monitors and reports when drivers idle for long periods, CO2e can further be reduced.